Chapter 00203: Each with Their Own Mission
# Each with Their Own Mission
Chapter 203
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 203: Each with Their Own Mission
When the ambush troops struck, the defenders of Ba Ling in Wei City also opened the city gates and charged out, flanking the Da Feng army from both sides.
The fighting in the night was particularly fierce.
Sun Duwei, Xiao Maoliang, and others were also moved, for the number of ambushers set by the Ba Ling people in the wilderness had reached an astonishing thirty thousand! Including the nearly ten thousand who had intercepted General Nan Ke, the Ba Ling people had actually mobilized over forty thousand troops this time, their determination to achieve victory in one decisive battle was exceptionally firm.
Such an aggressive and ruthless strategy had never been employed by the Ba Ling people before.
Was it due to a change in leadership?
After several exchanges, the Da Feng army split into two groups, led by Sun Duwei and Liu Duwei, retreating from the south and north directions respectively.
The enemy was too numerous, and Wei City was already the territory of the Ba Ling people.
The Da Feng army did not want to become trapped like fish in a barrel, so they had to withdraw before being encircled.
At this moment, the quality of the army was evident.
In the chaotic night battle, facing ambushers that outnumbered them six to one, the order to retreat came suddenly, yet the Da Feng army remained busy but unflustered, quick but not careless, and managed to slip away through a gap.
Looking at the large red flag fluttering in the evening breeze, which was meant to incite hatred, the Ba Ling army naturally wanted to muster their remaining courage to pursue the fleeing enemy.
The Da Feng army was the most elite force of Pan Long City; although their reputation was widespread, their numbers were actually limited.
If they could annihilate these more than five thousand troops, it would severely damage the vitality of Pan Long City.
Moreover, General Hong was also here!
General Hong had risen to prominence in just three years, and with his remarkable achievements, he stood alongside Zhong Shengguang as the backbone of Pan Long City.
If they could defeat General Hong, how far could the Ba Ling Kingdom be from capturing the entire Pan Long City?
One side fled while the other pursued, and the rolling smoke and dust moved eastward.
The battlefield quieted down, and amidst the chaos, only the wounded were groaning.
With the Da Feng army having retreated, the Ba Ling defenders of Wei City needed to hurry out to clean up the battlefield.
This logistics team was known as Du Shanying, with a specialized uniform.
They were not responsible for fighting, and the enemy rarely targeted them.
After the battle ended, their task was to collect prisoners of war and transport the wounded.
There were not many prisoners of war from the Pan Long people, only about twenty or thirty.
However, due to the rapid volleys fired by the Da Feng army, over four hundred of the Ba Ling ambushers had been hit by arrows, with seventy or eighty incapacitated, more than thirty severely injured, not counting the dead.
All of these needed to be treated in the city as soon as possible.
Fortunately, Wei City was close at hand, and the soldiers of Du Shanying carried stretchers back and forth several times, transporting most of the wounded back.
In addition to the original Huamu Cuo army of Wei City, some logistics teams from the newly appointed commander of the Ba Ling army also joined Du Shanying, temporarily increasing their manpower.
This led to Du Shanying being filled with unfamiliar faces, as many soldiers in the camp did not know each other.
Just as a dozen logistics soldiers had sent the wounded and prisoners into the city, one suddenly pulled out a glass bottle from his bosom and smashed it against the city wall!
The inner wall of Wei City was embedded with nine large copper talismans, more than a yard high from the ground.
This was a large defensive formation specially arranged by the Ba Ling people after capturing Wei City, referred to as the battle formation.
It is well known that Yuan Li can weaken or negate the opponent's divine abilities and can also be used to enhance one's own divine abilities.
However, if both armies use Yuan Li to strengthen their own divine abilities to attack the enemy during battle, the complexity of the battle increases, filled with variables.
Having just ended the fight, these nine copper talismans were certainly infused with Yuan Li, emitting a faint blue light, with runes flying out from the talismans, slowly rotating around the copper plates.
They could ensure that the city walls were harder and more resilient, and they had another remarkable use:
To spread the "Clear Heart Spell"!
Centered around the nine talismans, the Ba Ling people within a radius of three miles could maintain a clear mind, unaffected by malevolent spirits.
General Hong had only emerged in the past three years, and the Ba Ling Kingdom was still unaware of the marvelous uses of the Great Square Pot and could not see the presence of the Three Corpse Worms, but they were clear that their soldiers suddenly going mad and turning against them on the battlefield must have been under the influence of the enemy's mind-altering spells.
The Clear Heart Spell itself was not easy to cast, and to create a large-scale, long-lasting formation device, a massive talisman board was needed to accommodate the complex lines of the formation.
The talisman masters of the Ba Ling Kingdom had also put in great effort.
Although the nine copper talismans formed a set, in fact, even if two or three were missing, they could still operate normally; it was just that outsiders did not know.
After all, anything could happen on the battlefield, and if a few copper talismans were damaged, the remaining ones could still fend off the enemy.
However, now these dozen logistics soldiers acted in unison, and at least six of the talismans were struck.
The glass bottle shattered, and the colorless liquid splashed onto the copper talismans, which immediately hissed and emitted a cloud of blue smoke, the intricate lines of the formation began to deform, as if a candle were melting.
The blue light on the copper talismans was instantly extinguished.
Nearby, Ba Ling soldiers who were unfortunate enough to be splashed cried out in agony, rolling on the ground.
The logistics soldier closest to the city gate silently climbed up the city ladder, and the Ba Ling city guards stepped forward to intercept him, but somehow he slipped past them.
This logistics soldier swiftly stood beside an intact copper talisman, his speed unimpeded, while the figures of those city guards froze, and then either collapsed or fell off the city ladder.
Those who witnessed this scene gasped, thinking they had suddenly seen a ghost in the night.
The logistics soldier drew his blade and slashed at the talisman, completing the action in one go.
By the time he sheathed his sword, a huge "X" had already appeared on the copper talisman.
The formation inscribed on it was completely destroyed.
The two torches beside the copper talisman were also severed, plunging the area into darkness.
At the same time, his companions shot two signal arrows into the sky, and the pitch-black night exploded with two dazzling lights, one blue and one red.
The incident was sudden, and the Ba Ling defenders had not yet reacted when someone in the inner street shouted, "Close the city gates, quickly close the city gates!"
To facilitate the entry and exit of the logistics team, the gates of Wei City had always been left open.
The Ba Ling defenders hurriedly attempted to close the gates, but those dozen logistics soldiers and the prisoners from Pan Long City rushed back to stop them.
One of them pulled out a bow and arrow from behind, shooting three consecutive arrows that took down four Ba Ling soldiers.
One arrow even struck two men.
The torch illuminated his face, revealing Hu Min, an old acquaintance of He Lingchuan!
The logistics soldier by the copper talisman also took out a small blue pot and opened the lid.
The pot had two handles and was very exquisite, with a red gemstone embedded in the center of the pot body.
Others could not see it, but hundreds of Three Corpse Worms surged out from the pot, pouncing towards the nearest Ba Ling soldiers!
He Lingchuan jumped into the underground cavern and was immediately bounced back by a spider web.
The sensation was akin to playing on a trampoline.
He used the force to roll down layer by layer, careful not to let his head or face touch the spider web.
Despite the dizzying spin, he could still see many discordant figures on the brocade—those were the large spider demons, relentlessly pursuing him.
If it weren't for his rapid rolling speed, he would have been caught by them long ago.
Upon landing, He Lingchuan discovered that the space inside the nest seemed terrifyingly vast.
Rolling to the second-to-last layer of spider web, he barely managed to stop himself, but the mud on his hands had almost been scraped off completely.
Looking around, massive stalactites had grown larger over endless years, connecting top and bottom, ultimately forming stone pillars capable of supporting the underground world.
There were at least dozens of such stone pillars, some long, some short, perhaps still growing, with no discernible pattern, yet possessing a beauty crafted by divine hands, giving the cavern a remarkable sense of layers.
The space supported by the stone pillars resembled the interior of a honeycomb cake, with one stone chamber after another, large and small, half-open, all connected, the tops densely hung with stalactites, while the ground was thick with black decaying soil, piled high with dead branches and leaves.
Moss-like plants grew on the soil, either green or purple, dense and compact, as if laying a thick carpet in the stone chambers.
In simple terms, he was facing a gigantic, three-dimensional, magnificent underground maze that was at least thirty to forty layers deep!
Even if there were no spiders chasing him from behind, He Lingchuan did not think he could navigate this maze.
Of course, the walls and stone chambers were filled with glowing spores, illuminating the vast spider queen's lair.
Thus, He Lingchuan could clearly see that directly below him, and only directly below him, there was a terrifying abyss!
In this vast cavern, only the center was empty.
Because the bottom of the abyss was also glowing with spores, appearing as distant as stars at the edge of the sky.
He Lingchuan roughly estimated that he was about... fifty or seventy zhang (between one hundred sixty to two hundred meters) from the bottom of the abyss?
If he fell straight down, he would surely turn into mush, right?
Clearly, this was also one of the spider queen's defensive measures, preventing intruders from easily invading her maze, especially with spider guards rushing in from all directions.
From the moment He Lingchuan began to roll down, he had fallen into the encirclement of the spider guards.
They arrived so promptly, likely having been provoked by Sun Jiayuan earlier.
He Lingchuan also discovered a severed arm on the spider web below him.
Judging from the remaining fabric, this should be the remains of Sun Jiayuan.
It seemed he had also fallen to this spot, unable to even draw his bow before being pinned down by the swarm of spiders.
He Lingchuan looked around and found that the spider web was littered with bloodied remains, clearly indicating that the previous explosion had considerable power.
The worst part was that the spider guards were coming again.
In this world of spider webs, He Lingchuan could not possibly be more agile than the spiders.
By the time he steadied himself and crouched down, the web lines leading to the rock wall were already occupied by the spider guards.
He could not get through.
Moreover, in no more than ten breaths, the spider guards would pounce right in front of him.
He certainly could not withstand the fury of over a hundred elite monsters.
An ordinary person facing such a torrent of eight legs would likely be so frightened that their legs would go weak.
The lair of Zhu Erniang was truly a pitfall!
He Lingchuan had no time to complain, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow, aiming at several of the largest and closest stone chambers, firing four consecutive arrows!
Although the cavern was spacious, the air was not pleasant, carrying a hint of mold.
More accurately, it had a fermented smell.
At such a time, He Lingchuan welcomed any accelerants.
All four arrows accurately hit their targets.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, four explosive sounds rang out, and flames shot into the sky!
This constant temperature, quiet, and orderly space welcomed its first noise.
Inside the stone chambers, there were both plants and dead leaves, all highly flammable materials.
After the gunpowder on the arrows exploded, sparks flew everywhere, igniting whatever they landed on.
Four arrows could ignite twelve or thirteen stone chambers at once!
There were also spiders left behind in the stone chambers to guard, and now they were all terrified, flailing about like headless flies.
(End of Chapter)